Pandora Launches New Website, Looks To Get Targeted Concert Info Out

September 21, 2011 at 4:00 AM (PT)

PANDORA has rolled out a redesigned version of their website, which is now live and available to all listeners. Said the company, "The new site has been completely rebuilt on a faster platform with a sleek, modern look and feel. The thoughtful new design, reflecting years of listener feedback and use, highlights popular features, increases access to social sharing and makes commonly performed actions by listeners easier and more visually appealing."

PANDORA said the new features include:

* Faster Load Time -- HTML5 enables the site to load almost instantaneously and allows for fluid navigation across the service.

* Simplified Station Creation -- Enhanced auto-complete choices and personalized suggestions make creating new stations and discovering new music or comedy more intuitive and personal.

* Social Features and Sharing Tools -- Enhanced listener profiles and a new music feed offer a centralized place to find, like and comment on what friends and like-minded listeners are discovering and enjoying on PANDORA. Stations now have their own URLs, enabling far easier sharing of favorite stations via TWITTER, FACEBOOK, or on the new PANDORA social feed.

* Improved Control -- Prominent and ubiquitous access to familiar player control buttons including Play, Pause, Thumbs-Up and Thumbs-Down icons helps listeners personalize their music and comedy stations. A new shuffle feature also allows listeners to shuffle any collection of stations to add variety to their listening experience.

* Enhanced Artist Information -- An option to learn more about the music, find lyrics, read artists' biographies and expand the album art size.

* Unlimited listening -- There is no longer a cap on hours for any listeners.

PANDORA Chief Technical Officer/EVP Product TOM CONRAD said, "We've rebuilt PANDORA from the foundation up -- starting with a completely new software platform based on HTML5. This redesign represents years of learning and a deliberate and comprehensive review of every last detail of the experience. The result is a personalized radio service that is easier to use than ever before, enabling people to enjoy music they know and discover music they'll love."

Pushing Concert Info

Having been a part of transforming the radio business -- PANDORA co-founder TIM WESTERGREN now has his sights set on the concert business.

REUTERS reports WESTERGREN was present at THEGRILL, THEWRAP's annual media conference. "Because of the amount of information PANDORA collects about its users -- registering requires revealing your gender, age and zip code -- it can tell its customers when their favorite artists are playing near them."

"That is a recipe for solving, in my opinion, what is the most important or second most important challenge for musicians -- how to get people to come see you play live," said WESTERGREN.

WESTERGREN described a recent AIMEE MANN concert, that filled a theater, thanks to a PANDORA e-mail campaign. REUTERS notes, "The company messaged people who 'thumbed up' MANN on PANDORA and also lived within driving distance. The result: Her fans showed up in droves to a show they otherwise would not have known about."

"If artists like that could plug into an infrastructure like this maybe we can solve that problem," added WESTERGREN. "It could be the difference between a short career and a long one."